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Chemistry
The Watershed Project
Working on the political team for the watershed project this semester and been an amazing opportunity. Our goal was to compel the City Council of Escondido to allow water sampling in the part of Escondido Creek that they own. Though we did not reach our goal, we gathered a significant amount of information and laid the groundwork for the next team. It is my hope that next semester’s political team will be successful in strengthening communications between the TECC and the City of Escondido so that the creek can be properly cared for. Having gained a better understanding of the local political process, I feel empowered to be a vocal and contributing member of my community. Getting to participate in activities, such as speaking with members of The Escondido Creek Conservancy and visiting the Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve, opened my eyes to how we affect the thrival of our ecosystem and how our ecosystem affects our thrival. Awareness of this will help me to care for and appreciate the watershed. I will take my understanding of the nutrients required for aquatic life, as well as the codependency of life forms, into Biology next year.
PreparingMy partner and I conducted an interview with the Education Manager of The Escondido Creek Conservency. This helped us gain the credibility we needed to speak with City Council. We were able to begin making connections within TECC that would help us throught the project. I learned the importance of the work we were doing to both the creek and the community.
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PresentingSpeaking at the Escondido City Council Meeting was the climax of this project. After we gave our speech, I was not expecting to recive questions from the council. Though this did not go the way I would have liked, I was able to quickly recover. We built relationships with councilmembers and left more informed about the challenges we would face in reaching our goal.
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PreservingMy final product was a dossier that will help the next political team continue to work towards our goal. I catologued our contacts, actions, and remaing questions. Creating this sharpedned my writing skill as and graphic design abilites. I was challenged to think of the long term imact of our work and create a user-friendly guide for those who will continue that work.
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